UNITED NATIONS
GATE, March 18 – Inner
City Press on July 5 was
banned from entering the
UN, the day after it
filed a criminal
complaint against UN
Security for physically
removing it from
covering the meeting
about the UN Secretary
General Antonio
Guterres' $6.7 billion
peacekeeping budget, as
witnessed and
essentially cheered on
by senior UN official
Christian Saunders,
tearing its reporter's
shirt, painfully and
intentionally twisting
his arm and slamming
shut and damaging his
laptop. On August 17,
Guterres' Global
Communicator Alison
Smale issued a letter
banning Inner City Press
from the UN - for life.
With no due process. She
and Guterres have put
the UN in the US Press
Freedom Tracker, here.
Smale said,
again, that the UN would
answer Press questions
to the Spokesman
Stephane Dujarric and
his Office; Dujarric said the
same on
camera.
On March
18
three
hours before a
UN noon briefing where
Dujarric
spun
the UN rapes
he refuses
Inner City
Press'
questions on, and no one allowed in
asked anything, Inner
City Press submitted 629 questions: "There
are more than 400+
questions
UNanswered. While
appreciating and using
what was sent on
January 29 after it
was read out in the
briefing room, no
answers on Dec 17 or
18 or 19 or 20 or 21 -
another FIVE days in a
row, even as SG's
direct conflicts of
interest and failure
to disclose emerge,
and a newest low. While
appreciating the
lone partial
response to
Question Feb 28-3,
nothing on Dec
24 or Dec 26 or
Dec 27 or Dec
28, or January
2, 3 or 4 or 8
or 9 or 10 or 11
or 14 or 15 or
16 or 17 or 18
or 21 or 22 or
23 or 24 or 25
or 28 - that was
FIFTEEN
week-days in a
row, apparently
under orders,
then a simple
post-facto
answer. Now
what? No answers
on January 30
nor 31 nor
February 1 nor 4
nor 5 nor 6 nor
7 nor 11 nor 12
nor 13 nor 14 or
15 nor 18 nor 19
nor 20 nor 21
nor 22 nor 25
nor 26 nor 27
nor March 1-15 (!)
No answers at
all during those
four days of the
US v Ho trial
showing
corruption in
the UN says it
all. This ban is
just censorship
- and Inner City
Press must be
allowed back
into the noon
briefing to ask
its questions in
person and
follow up on
them.
March
18-1: On the SEA
report which was
not sent to
Inner City Press
by the UN but by
others, and
which Inner City
Press
voluntarily
refrained from
reporting on
until the 10 am
deadline, please
before 10 am
explain (a) six
allegations were
considered
conduct in
violation of
non-fraternization
policies and not
to contain
indications of
sexual
exploitation or
abuse -
question: did
these cases not
involve sex? (b)
four allegations
involved sexual
harassment,
physical assault
and paternity
claims, which
were considered
not to contain
indications of
sexual
exploitation and
abuse -
question: isn't
fathering a
child with a
beneficiary of
UN "assistance"
per se
exploitation?
(c) three
allegations
involved sexual
assaults between
United Nations
personnel, but
not with
beneficiaries of
assistance -
question:
confirm this was
"blue on blue,"
on which the UN
has previously
refused to
answer Inner
City Press; (d)
one allegation
involved a
member of United
Nations
personnel not
associated with
a peacekeeping
mission; one
allegation did
not involve
sexual
exploitation and
abuse - question
- what are the
bases of these
statement?; and
one allegation
was received by
OIOS in 2018 but
will be recorded
in 2019, once it
is referred to
the Member State
concerned -
question: what
is the member
state concerned
and what have
they done, as of
18 March
2019?
March
18-2: On Kenya,
what is the SG's
comment and the
UN's action on
the starvation
in
Turkana?
March
18-3: On
"reform," on
Friday it was
said that 27 new
Resident
Coordinators are
being recruited.
Since these are
not on the SG's
webpage, please
immediately
state which 27
RC positions are
being recruited
for, and how
much it will
cost the UN and
the
public.
March
18-4: On Saudi
Arabia, what is
the SG's comment
and action on
that Crown
Prince Mohammed
bin Salman of
Saudi Arabia
authorized a
secret campaign
to silence
dissenters —
which included
the
surveillance,
kidnapping,
detention and
torture of Saudi
citizens — over
a year before
the killing of
Jamal
Khashoggi.At
least some of
the clandestine
missions were
carried out by
members of the
same team that
killed and
dismembered Mr.
Khashoggi in
Istanbul in
October,
suggesting that
his killing was
a particularly
egregious part
of a wider
campaign to
silence Saudi
dissidents,
according to the
officials and
associates of
some of the
Saudi victims?
Does the UN
Secretariat
still have
MOU(s) with MBS'
MiSK Foundation?
If so,
why?
March
18-5: On Uganda,
what is the SG's
comment and
action if any on
reports that
least 104 people
who were taken
to various
health centres
after eating
poisoned
porridge
supplied by the
World Food
Programme (WFP),
have been
discharged.
Karamoja region
was last week
thrown into
panic after the
lead agency in
fighting hunger
in the
famine-prone
area,
distributed
Super Cereal
porridge, sugar
and cooking oil
to 120 families
at Alakas Health
Centre II in
Amudat District,
which turned out
to be
poisonous?
March
18-6: What is
the SG's comment
and action on
this, copied to
Inner City
Press, on a "
possible FCPA
violation may
have occurred
between
Microsoft
Corporation and
the United
Nations [now
see here.]
The name of the
company and/or
person who
offered, paid,
promised to pay,
or authorized
the payment of a
bribe: Microsoft
Corporation
(MSFT) The
nature of the
bribe: Cash or
thought a
financial
services
company
The name and
title of the
official who
received or was
the intended
recipient of the
bribe: Erzen
ILIJAZI and Amat
Gaye
March
18-7: On
cyber-censorship
in Turkey, what
is the SG's
comment and
action if any on
that the
judicial
authorities
blocked almost
3,000 online
articles last
year and the
government is
beginning to
clamp down on
online video
services? AGAIN,
immediately
explain how it
is legitimate to
ban from enter
into the UN the
media that has
been asking
about these and
other questions,
with no hearing
or appeal.
March
15-1: On
Cameroon, what
is the SG's
comment and
action if any on
that 26 people
who were
arrested in
Cameroon in
January during
protests called
by opposition
leader Maurice
Kamto have been
given one-year
jail terms for
“illegal
gathering and
demonstration”
or just planning
to take part in
a non-political
demonstration?
What does the UN
say about the
reported murder
of civilians by
Biya's forces
yesterday in Sop
and Melim?
March
15-5: Please
explain the
basis of Inner
City Press
yesterday
afternoon being
singled out and
pushed out of
the metal
detector line at
the Visitors
Entrance of the
UN despite
being
invited and with
a ticket to the
press freedom /
CSW event
"Journalism and
the Empowerment
of Women: New
Challenges in
the Digital
World." The DSS
officers said it
was based on a
"barred" list
and that they
would show me
the list once I
left. But they
never did. This
is a request to
see this barred
list, and
separately to be
informed how
people are put
on it, what due
process if any
is afford, and
how a person put
on the list can
appeal. In my
case this is a
request to be
informed what
person or
persons put me
on the list, and
why.
March
14-3: On UN
bribery and
Patrick Ho's
sentencing
submission --
where did the $1
million a year
in
"administration"
go? Is any going
to be returned,
as was done in
the case of Sun
Kian Ip
Foundation?
Again: the
filing states
inter alia that
"Beginning in
2013, the CEFC
Think Tank also
held annual
symposia at the
United Nations
(“UN”) devoted
to issues raised
at the most
recent annual
political
convention in
China. In
addition, the
CEFC Think Tank,
in consultation
with the UN
Department of
Economic and
Social Affairs
(“UN-DESA”),
established and
funded the
“Powering the
Future We Want”
grant—an annual
$1 million award
for a promising
sustainable
energy project
(the “Energy
Grant”). The
CEFC Think Tank
donated
approximately $2
million to the
UN every year to
fund the prize
and its
administration."
What entity or
subdivision of
the UN took the
$1 million
beyond the $1
million "prize"?
What are the
details on the
2013, 2014,
2015, 2016, 2017
and 2018
"symposia" by
this UN bribery
group? Again,
why has SG not
initiated an
audit at least
like Ban Ki-moon
did on Sun Kian
Ip - and why did
the SG omit his
paid board
position with
Gulbenkian
Foundation,
which tried to
sell its oil
company to CEFC,
from his public
financial
disclosure
covering 2016?
When are the
already delayed
public financial
disclosures,
including that
of Alison Smale
who had not yet
published
anything, be
made
available?
March
13-5: On
Venezuela and
press freedom,
what is the SG's
comment and
action if any on
the
disappearance /
detention of
journalist
Luis Carlos
Diaz? AGAIN,
immediately
explain how it
is legitimate to
ban from enter
into the UN the
media that has
been asking
about these and
other questions,
with no hearing
or appeal.
March
11-3: Also on
Uganda, perhaps
relatedly, what
is the SG's
comment and
action on
President
Museveni's
threat to pull
Ugandan troops
from
AMISOM?
March
8-1: On
Cameroon, what
is the SG's
comment and
action if any on
the holding over
of barrister
Michele Ndoki,
whom the
government
previously shot,
on charges like
Maurice Kamto of
"rebellion"?
March
8-2: On UN
corruption and
bribery,
yesterday
evening Inner
City Press saw
in front of the
UN and
questioned
Francis Lorenzo,
who pleaded
guilty to UN
bribery. Please
immediately
state the last
time convicted
UN bribery felon
Francis Lorenzo
entered the UN
(same for former
El Salvador
Ambassador
Carlos Garcia,
who it was shown
facilitied
Lorenzo's
illegal acts,
and for Patrick
Ho), and state
whether Lorenzo
is affiliated in
any way to the
Dominican
Republic mission
to the UN.
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